


Free Admission

by witchvixx



Series: Spooky October VIXX [1]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Gen, body horror?, circus AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchvixx/pseuds/witchvixx
Summary: Jung Taekwoon just wanted a way of out this town. He never expected to find it on a poster that was taped up on the window of the grocery store. But he'll take what he can get.





	Free Admission

**Author's Note:**

> I'm supposed to finishing my ot3 fic but this circus au has been calling my name for weeks. This is going to be apart of a series of various aus that are kinda creepy? We'll see how it goes. Enjoy! This was orginally posted on my tumblr incorrectvixx.

Taekwoon doesn’t remember the last time he had a normal day. There is always someone to pull on his hair, to push him into the ground, to make his life living hell. 

It’s hard to live like this, to always be in the outcrowd, always looking in. He thought that by now he would used to it, that it wouldn’t bother him as it did when he was a kid but it’s only gotten worse as he’s gotten older. The constant bullying and teasing makes it hard for him to wake up everyday. Sometimes, he just wishes he was never even born.

He needed something, anything, to get him away from this town, from these people, from everything.

He was on his way home from the store when he saw the poster. It didn’t stand out, not particularly. There was no color on it, and contained very little details on other than a date and time with a big top drawn on it and the word ‘CIRCUS’ in bold type set. 

There was no denying, it didn’t set well with Taekwoon. The paper looked old but the date was set for tonight in two hours on the outskirts of town, just shy of the city limits. He didn’t think he could trust it. Someone probably put these up to lure in children or to scam people. Looking around though, this was the only poster put up. It was strange and curious and something Taekwoon shouldn’t even be considering.

Sighing to himself, he gathered the groceries that were at his feet. It was stupid to even think about. Going out there by himself was almost asking to get killed. 

It wouldn’t be worth it, even if it was a thrill for once in his life. He had promised his mom that he would be home before it got dark and his mom did need some of the stuff he got for dinner tonight. It wasn’t worth it. People from school would be there more than likely and he didn’t feel like dealing with them anymore. It really wouldn't be worth it.

The street he walked on was lonely and deserted, leaving him in his own mind for most of the walk. He liked it like that. The silence helped ground him and allowed him to think. It gave him some peace of mind and calmed his nerves that the others seemed to grate every single day. He always needed something that could get him out of his head, even for a little while. 

As he walked, he couldn’t stop thinking about the poster that he saw. No matter how much he tried to tell himself to stop, his thoughts kept coming back to the mysterious poster that gave nothing away. It felt too ominous in itself. Still, Taekwoon was intrigued. His mother had always said he never had enough common sense to listen to his gut and always did what he wanted, even if it was irrational. 

He wanted to go out there, even it was just for an hour. Maybe it would be worth it.

.

The sun hasn’t even set completely yet by the time that he makes it out to the grounds. It had taken him nearly an hour and half to get across town and to the circus and if he’s being honest, he realizes how dumb of idea this was.

In the field, there stands a large big top that is striped red and white. Around the tent are a few stands that have been set up with various circus games with prizes all around them, most of them being old looking plush toys that looked like some of them had mold growing on them. Taekwoon made a mental note to stay away from that area. The grass around the tent and stands is unkept, standing almost to Taekwoon’s knees. It makes him itch and scratch on his bare legs. 

There is only one booth with a light on and Taekwoon makes his way over to that, hoping to see someone in this deserted place. As he gets closer, he can see that no one is in the booth. He sighs, mad at himself for coming all the way down here for some circus that no one even cares enough about to sell tickets to. 

“There’s no one there tonight.” A sweet voice says, startling Taekwoon out of his thoughts. He spins around quickly to find the source of the voice only to be met with a youngish looking boy looking back at him from one of the booths, almost hidden in the shadows. “It’s free admission. And for today only. So no one’s there tonight.”

Taekwoon is taken aback by the boy. He barely looks 20 and here he is, apparently a part of this circus. He wears a dingy white dress shirt with a few buttons at the top opened up to reveal parts of his chest. Taekwoon can’t see well in the approaching darkness but he can tell something is wrong with his mouth. It moves unnaturally, like he has never used it before and is just learning how to speak and cannot fully open it. The most unnerving thing about him is the puppet that he holds close to him. It looks around, head swivelling from side to side while the boy stays still in the same spot. Taekwoon thinks it natural to be wary of him in a place like this.

“So I can, uh,” Taekwoon starts but stops when the puppet stops moving and looks at him. It’s a doll, he knows that, but it doesn’t stop the uneasiness that settles deep in his stomach. “I can just go in?” 

“If you want.” The boy says again, and it’s this time that that he realizes the puppet’s mouth is also moving when the boy speaks. Taekwoon doesn’t know much about puppetry, but the boy doesn’t seem that good at it if he has to hide in the shadows so no one can see his mouth move. “Or you could play a game with us.” 

“I don’t have a lot of money on me.” Taekwoon says, hoping to just get away without anymore interactions with this guy. He knew this was a bad idea.

“The first game is free.” The boy says, motioning him over with his free hand. Taekwoon knows he should just say no, that would be the smart thing to do but his mind and body are telling him two different things. His legs take him over to the booth without him even realizing what he has done.

“How do you play?” Taekwoon asks, eyes trying to focus in the darkness to see the boy up close. His head is down now, looking at cards that he has laid out in front of him.

“It’s easy.” He says, the puppet still moving his mouth as well. Taekwoon can’t help but to watch it in morbid fascination. “If I guess your name, I win. If I can’t, you win.”

“What do I win?” Taekwoon asks, taking his eyes from the puppet to look at the boy who has finally looked up. Taekwoon’s almost gags at the sight that he is met with. 

“Anything you want,” he says, looking directly into Taekwoon’s eyes as he flips the card on the table over. His mouth doesn’t move when he talks, to Taekwoon’s absolute horror because there is no way that he can. There are gruesome stitches along his lips that seal them shut, deep black thread that restrains any movement that the boy may have. When he smiles, his mouth opens just slightly, and he can see the thread on the other side. “Taekwoon.”

It takes all that he can to not scream out in horror as the boy laughs. He backs away slowly, and he can feel sweat on his back from the absolute terror that is running through his body.

He doesn’t remember running or where he really went but all he knows is that he is far away from that terrible sight that he never wants to see again. He leans up against the building that he ran to. He can see the road from here and he should start walking home if he wants to be home by a reasonable hour. He just needs to sit for a while. 

His hands feel empty and he realizes that he must have dropped the grocery bags in his frantic run away from that boy. He doesn’t even know if that person was human, let alone a boy and there was no way he was going back or even close to that again. He groans to himself for being so stupid and having to make another trip to the store and using his own money for more groceries.

He stands up from his sitting position against the building, legs a little wobbly. Before he could take even one step, he hears loud laughter that seemed to echo throughout the entire field. It gave Taekwoon all the more reason to hurry away.

“Where did he go?” A cheery voice asked. It was nearby and Taekwoon didn’t want to stay around to find out where it was coming from. He learned the hard way what happened when he got nosey. Before he could take another step, the voice started again with the same cheer. “Where did our Taekwoonie go?” 

Taekwoon felt his blood run cold. How did he already know his name? Did that boy tell him already? What was this place? He heard something move to his right and his head snapped to the movement. 

Peaking only his head around the corner was a man with blonde hair that went everywhere. His face was pale with clown makeup and his nose was painted red. He looked like every circus clown that Taekwoon had ever seen in pictures but nothing about him screamed normal. 

“Oh, here he is.” He said with a sickening voice and a smile that seemed to stretch his entire face too far. “Why did you run away Taekwoonie? We just want to play.”

He starts coming closer and Taekwoon quickly turns away from him to run again. As he does, he sees an open door in the building. There has to be something in there that he can defend himself with. He rushes to the door, slamming it shut and locking it. He hears displeased noises from the others that quickly quiet down. He thinks maybe that his heart might finally start to slow down but it picks back up again when he hears a second voice talking. He presses his ears against the wood to listen in.

“...Hongbin will take care of him, don’t worry.” He hears a low voice say. He pulls aways from the door as quickly as he gone to it. Taekwoon doesn’t like the sound of that. He has to find a way out here before this Hongbin finds him and kills him. When he turns around to search the room for other exits, his heart sinks to the floor.

Mirrors. Mirrors everywhere. He trapped himself in a mirror maze with something named Hongbin that’s going to ‘take care of him’.

The image of himself keeps repeating over and over in the mirrors. He looks like a mess, hair everywhere and tears forming in his eyes from the repeated scares and close calls he’s experienced tonight. His chest hurts from the running earlier and his face feels hot in the room. He looks at himself in the mirror again, just to check that he is alone. At least for now. 

He stands once again on wobbly legs. The feeling in his stomach hasn’t disappeared and tears his eyes won’t stop falling. He will lucky to leave here tonight with his life. The thought alone makes him choke down a sob so he doesn’t alert anyone. 

Placing his hand on the mirror in front of him, he follows it down what he thinks is a hallway. It’s hard to tell at first, everything is so disorienting and confusing. The first mirror he runs into makes him step back and he looks at it for a moment. It’s then that he realizes that he isn’t alone in here anymore.

There is a man looking at him, from where Taekwoon can’t tell. There are too many mirrors and too many places that he could be. They look at each other in the mirror. He looks like the most innocent out the people he has seen here but he knows that is just a facade. This has to be the Hongbin that they were talking about. Taekwoon doesn't want to find out how he will take care of him but he can’t find himself to move from the man’s stare.

His eyes terrify Taekwoon, X’s have replaced the pupils, and they feel like they are staring straight through Taekwoon and beyond. He is wearing what looks like a mismatched outfit with a loose fitting dress shirt tucked into too small slacks. Even with the strange outfit, Taekwoon can’t deny that he is handsome. Far too handsome for someone like him. 

“You’re Taekwoon?” Hongbin says in low voice. It scares Taekwoon, how relaxed the other is. “You don’t look like I imagined.”

Taekwoon can’t find his words, not yet, everything is happening too fast for his mind to even process. He just wanted to escape for a night. He didn’t want to die.

“H-how did you imagine me?” Taekwoon says, figuring if he can play into the other’s games then he might be able to buy him some more time.

“I don’t know.” Hongbin shrugs and suddenly his voice is much closer to Taekwoon’s ear, causing shivers to run down his spine. “I thought you’d be smaller.”

Taekwoon can feel the other breathing down his neck and he belatedly figures out the other had never been in the room. He had been in the mirrors the entire time, only coming out just now. He felt like crying all over again. 

“What do you want from me?” Taekwoon whispers, fear laced into his voice. To his horror, the other just laughs. 

“Look in the mirror.” Hongbin says as his lips brush against Taekwoon’s ears. Without much thought, Taekwoon looks in the mirror and is met with a unknown sight. It’s him, undoubtedly so but it isn’t him. The person in the mirror is wearing a black tailored suit standing next to Hongbin, who is also wearing a suit, but a much more colorful one. The mirror Taekwoon holds what looks like whip in his hand, both wearing a collar around their necks. He can’t lie, he looks stunning but it isn’t him.

“What is this?” Taekwoon chokes out. 

“It’s what I want.” Hongbin says, grabbing the other by the arm and spinning him around to face him instead of the mirror. “It’s what we want.”

“W-what-” Taekwoon sputters and Hongbin stops him before he can continue.

“I can see you aren’t happy Taekwoon.” Hongbin almost whispers to him. His voice is low but he can’t help but be drawn into it. “Everyday hurts you. Everyone fights with you because you’re different, right? You feel alone, like no one cares. You wish those people who hurt you,” he leans in close again, right next to his ear. “You wish you could kill every single one of them, right?”

Taekwoon finds himself nodding before he can stop himself. The thought has crossed his mind before, but he’s never spoken it out loud to anyone before, so he doesn’t know how a complete stranger could understand his deepest and darkest wish. He’s starting to think that Hongbin isn’t like any other stranger he has met before.

“We can make that happen Taekwoon.” Hongbin is still right by his ear and he should be scared of it. He should be. “All you have to do is trust me.”

“How can I trust you?” Taekwoon protests. “You’ve tried to kill me almost two times now!”

“I didn’t try to kill you Taekwoon, I would never.” Hongbin calmly states. “And the others wouldn’t either. Sanghyuk likes to scare people and Jaehwan… He’s just really friendly. But they weren’t going to hurt you.”

“Why?” Taekwoon asks and keeps going before Hongbin can answer. He’s too confused right now. He feels his beating frantically. “Why wouldn’t they? What was stopping them? Who are you people? What is this place? What is-”

“Taekwoon, calm down-”

“How do you all know my name and-”

“Please, Taekwoon, just listen to me-”

“What are you going to do with me-”

“Taekwoon!” Hongbin almost screams at him, grabbing his face with his hands to make him look at him in they eyes. Taekwoon puts his hands on top of the others, trying to pry them off. “Just trust me, okay? Trust me, and everything will make sense.”

Taekwoon finds himself nodding. He doesn’t trust him, not yet, but he doesn’t have much of a choice right now. 

“Go to sleep Taekwoon. When you wake up, everything will make sense, ok? Just go to sleep.” Hongbin keeps talking and the low voice is putting him to sleep quickly. The last thing he remembers before succumbing to the darkness is the voice calling out for someone named Wonshik and strong arms holding him.

.

There are bright lights that assault his eyes even when they are closed. He tries to cover them while he opens them up and he has no clue where he is but it’s hard and his whole body hurts. Groaning, he sits up and hears voice near him.

“Someone go get Hakyeon, he’s waking up.” That cheery voice from before says and Taekwoon turns to him so sharply that the other gets startled. He isn’t smiling like before and the makeup is all gone and Taekwoon is glad for it. He offers Taekwoon a small, shy smile but only receives a glare in return. He tries to get closer to Taekwoon, probably to help him up, but Taekwoon only moves away from him. 

“Don’t come near me.” Taekwoon says, voice soft but it carries through the empty space. The other just sighs.

“I’m sorry. I really must have scared you. I just really wanted to meet you. Sanghyuk told me about you and I was dying to see you.” He looks sincere but Taekwoon doesn’t trust it. “I’m Jaehwan by the way.” 

 

“You already know my name.” Taekwoon curtly responds before looking around. He guess that he’s in the tent, underneath the big top, the middle of the arena. The lighting it lower than what he thought it would be and it’s a little surprising. There is a man by where Jaehwan was sitting, who is broad and muscled up beyond anything that Taekwoon had ever seen. He’s a little shocking at first but Taekwoon thinks he might be the only normal one. 

“You don’t have to be so mean to us.” A chilling voice says. Taekwoon turns around to see the boy from before, Sanghyuk, he assumes. He’s less scared of him now, maybe used to the shocking image of it all. He glares even more at him. “I really didn’t think you would run away like that. I just wanted to play for a bit.”

“I didn’t like it.” Taekwoon hisses at him. 

“Well, I liked it.” Sanghyuk teases him and before he can start again, a new voice interrupts him.

“You’ll have to excuse him Taekwoon.” The voice is just as soothing as Hongbin’s, if not more so. The man holds himself with grace and walks with confidence, something Taekwoon could only dream of. Everything about him screams authority. “He’s still such a child.”

Taekwoon only stares at him for a few moments before he realizes that he is expecting some sort of reply, but his tongue feels like cotton in his mouth. He only nods his head and that seems to satisfy the other.

“I’m glad you join us Taekwoon. I was afraid you would never find us.” Hakyeon says, walking towards him. 

“W-what do you mean?” Taekwoon says, finding his voice.

“We’ve seen you before. Well, Hongbin has. He’s seen you in our future. We always knew that we were incomplete without you and we’ve been waiting a very long time for you to find us.” Hakyeon explains, crouching down next to where he sits in the dirt. 

“I don’t understand.” Taekwoon admits. All of this doesn’t make any sense. How do these people know who he is? The other just sighs.

“Taekwoon, didn’t you think it was odd that Sanghyuk knew your name? Or that Hongbin knew about your life? Or that you were the only one to see the poster?” Hakyeon asks and Taekwoon nods.

“Of course I did, but what does that have to do with anything?” Taekwoon questions, looking around at the others who are all looking at him intently. “D-does that mean you’re going to kill me or something?”

“Hongbin already told you, we aren’t going to kill you.” Hakyeon says slowly like he’s explaining it to a child.

“Then what are you going to do with me?” Taekwoon dares to ask. Hakyeon smile is comforting, he reaches to brush Taekwoon’s hair from his face. Taekwoon flinches at first but relaxes once he realizes what he’s doing.

“Save you from this town.” Taekwoon can’t help how his heart jumps at that. This could be the out that he’s always dreamed about. This could be his one chance to leave and never come back, to start a brand new life. He didn’t care if they lied to him, if they told him all of this just to kill him later. If he got to leave and breath air that wasn’t in this town, even for just a day, it would be worth it. “If you let us Taekwoon, we’ll take care of everything. We’ll take care of everyone.”

He doesn’t think that he could be blamed for nodding his head.

.

It’s a few month later that they finally return to his hometown. It’s a shell of what it used to be. It’s still shattered and heartbroken over the loss of so many people in the town due to an unknown accident at a circus a few months back. Taekwoon remembers the crying and the blood and, most of all, the screaming. It keeps him up at night in the best ways.

He doesn’t know how he so easily fell into this life, how quickly he became like the rest of them in such a short time. It should be concerning but it just isn’t. He doesn’t like to think much about it.

Wonshik had told him it was like that for all of them. Hakyeon made it easy for them to fall into their roles and become someone that aren’t. 

“What if I can’t be the beast tamer? I can’t control animals.” Taekwoon had asked Wonshik that night, leaning on the man’s strong shoulder. It didn’t take much thought to understand why he was the strong man. He could feel him laughing at the question. 

“Taekwoon, he wouldn’t give it to you if he didn’t think you could do it. He’s brilliant.” Wonshik said seriously. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Taekwoon said with a smile on his lips.

“Also, Taekwoon… How many animals have you seen around here?” Wonshik asked, gesturing around the site. “I don’t think Hakyeon was referring to the beasts you’re thinking of. Think of your beasts.”

“My beasts…” Taekwoon starts but trails off as he thinks. The only beasts that he ever thought were those people he knew in town. But Hakyeon really couldn’t mean that, could he. When he looked at Wonshik, he was met with a knowing look and he couldn’t help how his heart started to speed up.

His mother always told him he had no common sense and was too irrational, but he could never come to regret the decision to come out to the circus that night.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!! Comments are always appreciated!


End file.
